Can You Really Hate the Sin and Love the Sinner?

 

Romans 6

Recently, I came across an article that disputed whether a Christian could really hate the sin and love the sinner. The author (and many commenters below the article) stated it was just a twist of words, believing it to be impossible to have such diverse feelings between a person and that which resides within them.

My answer to whether it is possible to do both is—well Yeah!

Have you ever known someone who had cancer? My guess is you have. Have you ever loved someone with cancer? Me too. Did I love their cancer? Hmmmm … let me think. Uh, no!!! I hated it with every fiber of my being. Why? Because it threatened to destroy the person in whom it took hold. In fact, the more I loved that person, the more I hated the disease.

So, too, is how I feel about sin. Not just for “the sinner” outside of me, but “the sinner” inside me. Like allowing cancer to fester results in death, allowing sin to fester does the same (Romans 6:21). That’s just the truth.

However, before you go around, spiritual doctor-bag in hand, there is one caution to this analogy. Though cancer treatment has saved many lives, there have been those who have died from its effects. Chemo is never pretty. As Christians, we should be careful before administering our idea of healing to an unwilling patient who is not able-bodied enough to endure it. Sometimes a soul needs to be nourished before we ravage the death-inducing cells.

So yes, you can hate the sin and love the sinner. Or better yet, love the sinner first—building her up. You do that enough and it may lead to a natural defense against evil. Who knows?

When do you most feel loved?

Other posts you might like:

What Will Judgment Day Look Like?

Amazing Grace—Do We Take It For Granted?

For God So Loved the World …

Do You Ever Feel Your Offering to God is too Small?

John 6:5-13

Right now, my church is involved in Rick Warren’s Bible study entitled, “40 Days in the Word.” In this study Mr. Warren recommends we try to picture ourselves as the people in a Bible passage, and ask what it would be like to be them at that moment.

This past week we were prompted to envision ourselves as the boy with the five small barley loaves and two small fish. Hmmm. What could possibly be going on in this young man’s mind as he handed over his basket to the men charged with feeding five thousand?

First, I’m wondering, did he do it willingly? Well, it was either that or the apostle, Andrew, muscled it out of his hands. Somehow, I’m not seeing a tussle between the men and the boy ending with a torn basket and the food splayed in the dirt, so I’m thinking he did. Though the Bible describes these items as small, I would guess that, for a family, five loaves and two fish could be an entire meal. Yet he handed them over with no fanfare, knowing its meager proportions could not possibly satisfy the multitude surrounding him.

So what would I feel if I were this boy? Can I relate in any way?

You betcha!

Have you ever been faced with a monumental task and felt your ability to meet the needs were a useless effort? I know I have. And yet, if we give our offering to Jesus, He can not only turn it into a sustaining feast for many, but when all is said and done there will be more to spare.

Remember, your work, your ministry, is not yours alone. If you consider it such, at most it will be one meal that will leave all hungry by the next day. But entrusted to Christ, your cup will overflow … by at least twelve baskets full.

Tell us about a time God enlarged your efforts.

Other posts you might like:

What Did Moses Do Anyway?

Should You Strive To Be Only Natural?

The Man Who Inspired a Congregation ... Sorta

Can God Heal Autism?

This Devotion was inspired by Hillsong’s Healer. Click the link to see it on Youtube. 
  
My son has autism. What does that mean? It means he has a cluster of developmental delays that make him less functional in society without someone’s help.

 It started out as a language delay. We didn’t panic at first because this type of delay ran on both sides of our family. Those members who’d suffered it were currently either financially well off or verbally advanced, so we waited for my son to do the same. His physical delays were less apparent. They ebbed and flowed with each test. Sometimes on target, sometimes behind. His social-skills remained above age level.

 We’d hoped the language would fill in one day as it had for others we’d known. But it didn’t. So, I looked into therapies and treatments and supplements to make him well. And I prayed. No, this is not one of those stories where I came to God as a last resort. We were together on this one from the beginning. He kept me calm through the storms, though some of the storms were of my own making.

 But what does one pray for as the mother of an autistic boy? The right assistance? The right therapy to fix him? Or out-and-out healing? Which prayer demonstrates the appropriate level of faith (you know, moving mountains and all that) and which prayer embodies humility, understanding the sovereignty of God’s will (His grace being sufficient)?

I still don’t have the answer to that question so I pray them all. God is BIG! Did you know that? He’s huge. And powerful! So I didn’t think it a bad thing to pray my son be healed. But it seems others did. When I asked them to pray for healing, they’d look at me with pity in their eyes as though they believed my faith hinged on the discontinuation of his diagnosis. It made me sad. Sad they thought so little of me and worse they thought so little of God.

I had an acquaintance whose non-verbal eleven-year-old began to speak after 6 weeks of treatment with a research doctor. I met her the week I’d been fasting and praying for answers. But what made her story amazing is that she also had a team of people covering her son in prayer every day of that treatment. We now go to this same doctor and have gotten great benefit from the treatment, just not like hers. I could never find a group of people willing to pray big things. They worried more about me than they did my son. Sigh!

Don’t get me wrong. I am not of the name-it and claim-it church. God doesn’t always give us exactly what we want, when we want it. Though Paul healed many, he writes of those who remained sick. He, himself, carried a thorn that was a reminder of God’s beautiful Grace. All, but one, apostle was martyred for Christ. Sometimes bad things happen and God shows His greatness in spite of, or even because of, those things. God has blessed me in so many ways through the gentle gift of my beautiful boy. This young man shows love and concern like no other without uttering a word. Truly living his gift rather than just speaking it. He’s grown my daughter in enormous ways that she’d never have known had she had a “normal” brother. He brings me peace with just a gentle touch of his fingers. I am blessed.

One of the words my son can say is “pray.” And he knows when to say it. He is the one to remind me to seek my Creator in time of need. He’s recently begun to say it often throughout the day. So I do. I pray for his healing. Not because I think God WILL heal my son, but because I KNOW He CAN. It is my testament of faith in His power. And still, I know He is not only omnipotent, but omniscient. He knows what is best for me and my son’s ministry for His Glory. He has a better plan than I can even imagine, and it just may include autism.

I submit to that plan.

 He is Good! 

Mark 9:14-29

Oh, and if you are so inclined, feel free to pray for my son. I won’t mind :o)!!! Let me know and I will return the favor—Comment below.

 

Other posts you might like:

Jake The Encourager—by H.L. Wegley
Signs of God
Eleven Days Past Autism Awareness Month

To Parallel My Life with My Savior

If you can’t see the video imbed below, click the link to hear Needtobreathe’s Garden.

I was flying so-many thousand feet above land, on my way home from the Dallas ACFW Writer’s Conference, heart in my throat, praying something bad wouldn’t happen to the plane and I wouldn’t end up like a bug on a windshield in a cornfield somewhere. Up until last year’s conference I hadn’t flown in nearly twenty years and those little bumps of turbulence always seem like the pilot doesn’t have control of the plane, and being a control freak, that is not a good thing to me.
Am I afraid to fly? Um, well, kinda. It’s crazy, because when I was a little girl, my father would take me up in his Cessna, giving control of the yoke and rudder pedals to me, so I could soar toward the horizon and marvel at the patchwork of terra-firma below. I loved it and planned to get my license as soon as I came of age.
But somewhere along the way, I let fear take over. Fear I didn’t have when the yoke was in my own hands—I had control. I know it’s stupid to prefer myself in control (at no more than twelve years old) than to give it over to a pilot who is well trained, but that’s how my sometimes anxious mind works. So as I flew from Dallas to Baltimore, an even more anxious man beside me, the lyrics to this song came to mind.
Thank You, Jesus!
The song begins with Jesus’ words “Won’t you take this cup from me?” It reminds us of the agony Jesus felt with the knowledge he’d soon give over His body to the torture of those who despised Him. Talk about lack of control … and for someone who has the ultimate power to possess it. This terrified Him to the point He sweat actual blood. And still, he continued on, submitting to the will of His Father in heaven. Why? So that we would be washed of sin and saved for eternity.
The song goes on. Not as Jesus, but as a singer and songwriter who wants to live as Jesus did, in the way the Father has marked out for him. It reminds us that we all have a cross to bear and a life to give. Each path will be different, but if we follow the will of the Father, lives will be saved.
When I look at what Jesus suffered, my own fears seem inconsequential. He gave so much. My small fear of flying can be overcome, in order that I walk the path He set before me. It’s the least I can do for the One who gave me life. So I carry on. I guess I’ll fly again.
What fears do you need to overcome for Him?
Other posts you might like:
How the ACFW Conference Sparked a Fertile Imagination—Just Not Mine
Sacrifice—No Greater Love, by Rachel Poole
But God, What if … ?

I’m Not Able On My Own

If you can’t see the video imbed of Needtobreathe’s Able below, try this link.

Years ago Time Magazine had a cover with a woman, dressed in a business suit, juggling several things while carrying a baby in her arms and holding a briefcase. The title article of that issue was about how women of our generation could do it all. The ultimate woman. It was meant to empower those of us who aspired to raise a family but didn’t want to lose our identities in the seemingly meaningless drivel (and drool) of caring for children. I remember the jolt of energy that ran through me as I viewed that image. I could do it! I could have it all!

Oh, how times have changed me.

Now, I just want to know, what is “all” anyway? A great career (in which I’d have to excel), a big house (I’d have to maintain), a wonderful husband (I’d never see) and perfect children (whom I’d raise in my spare time—ha!)? And the other question: Would “all” really make me happy? I mean, isn’t that the whole reason we want “all” in the first place?

Now, when I think about that image from the Time magazine cover, I immediately experience a weight pouring into my cells like molten lead running through my veins. It’s wearying to me to even contemplate.

Why?

Because … I’m not able.

Not only can I not do all of these things by myself, but the running after them is much like what Solomon called “a chasing after the wind” (Ecclesiastes 1:14). I no longer want to follow empty promises, but God’s hope and future (Isaiah 29:11). I want to be filled with His dreams and dive into His plans.

But before I develop a new picture of me, holding a large, gilded-edged Bible in one hand, and a cross strapped on my back, I need to realize … I’m still not able. I need His help to guide me, to strengthen me and to release my cross from its bindings. In short, I need Him.

But before we sigh despondently at the idea of being so needy, let’s look at its joys. Needing Him allows me to be in His presence, to gain His help, to know His love. Had I done it all on my own, I’d have none of these. A far cry from the lady balancing the baby and the briefcase. More like a woman resting in the Son.

What does “all” look like to you?

Related posts:

Rise Up

Christian Music Ministry

Why I Want to Be Broken

Relax, Let Go—And Let Him Carry

If you can’t see the video below of the Needtobreathe song Something Beautiful, try this link.

I love the water analogy in this song. I see a man dipping his toe into the waves and wondering, “Should I dive in? Will it be too cold? Too deep? Will I drown?”

OR

“Will it refresh me, cleanse me, and lift me up?”

Remember when you were a kid and someone taught you how to float on your back in a pool? I not only remember learning this, but teaching it to my children.

If they relaxed, they’d float, but when they tensed, they dropped. The trick was getting them to trust the water (or at least me) enough to allow it to carry them so they wouldn’t sink.

Peter, the apostle of Jesus Christ, knew this all too well (Matthew 14: 22-33). When watching his teacher walk on the lake, he begged to join Him. But once out there and focusing on the “realities” of this world he no longer trusted that which held him up … and so his ankles dipped below the tide, the water threatening to overtake him.

Faith in God is like that water. Sometimes you just need to let Him carry you. And just like the peace of drifting above the water, waves lulling you into a joyous rest, you might just experience …

Something Beautiful.

Other posts you might like:

What Have You Got to Lose?

Surrender

His Power is Made Perfect in My Weakness

What Will Judgment Day Look Like?

If you can’t see the video imbed, use this link.

What do you think it will look like to go before the Lord on judgment day? What do you think you will feel knowing you have fallen short of the glory of God facing absolute purity in the person of your Creator?

Well let me give you a couple pictures of what it could look like.

In Joshua 5:14 Joshua spies a man standing over him with a drawn sword. Joshua, being courageous, does not flinch, but asks the man if he is for or against them. But watch this! The man says he is the commander of the army of the Lord and Joshua falls on his face in reverence. When faced with a potential physical threat, he is confident. But when faced with an angel of the Lord he is humbled to such depths he could find no lower position. I imagine when we come into the presence of our God and see His face for the first time we will feel the need to do the same.

Another picture.

I am reminded of the end of the film Schindler’s List. In this movie, Schindler uses his wealth to purchase Jewish “workers” for his arms factory in order to save the workers from annihilation in a Nazi gas chamber. We see him adding more and more names to his list, depleting his wealth to the point he begins to sell off his possessions to save lives.

In the final scene, when presented with a ring willingly made by his “workers” from an extracted gold filling as a token of their appreciation, he falls to the ground, pulls at the remainder of his possessions and laments he did not give the last of these in order to save more people. What seemed important to him before now was meaningless against the life it might have preserved.

So, too, when faced with the Awe of our Loving Father in heaven and His Goodness, will be our sin. The little white lies told to further our convenience will be a sneer to our Creator that we did not trust Him enough to secure even the simplest of things. The hoarding of our possessions will be the taking from those who needed them more.

We will be given new perspective.

Oh can you imagine the list of things rolling out on the floor and continuing to roll as our imperfections, great and small, unfolds before our Creator? Can you imagine the stain seeping through you as you behold the Perfect One who died so you could live?

And yet, Jesus tells us to trust in Him and we will be washed clean. That simple.

Trust Him—Washed clean!

Washed clean because He took our place. He bore our punishment, so we could live in splendor for eternity. It doesn’t seem right, and yet it just IS.

Other posts you might like:

Broken By War, Saved By Grace

For God So Loved the World …

Judging Someone Else’s Servant